Shares of Vancouver, Canada based Interfor Corporation (IFP), which harvests timber and markets lumber products for North American residential and commercial construction markets, was the top detractor of performance for the quarter. Despite its Canadian headquarters, over 64% of Interfor’s lumber board feet are sourced in the US. Moreover, a full two-thirds of this is from the US South, where Interfor has spent $400 million since 2013 to build a clustered presence.
Shares sold off as log prices softened into 3Q15 earnings due to weaker than expected US housing starts and fears of weaker log exports to China, although these account for a small portion of Interfor sales. We believe the outlook for Interfor remains strong based on i) accelerating US housing starts, ii) stronger free cash flow in 2016 which will be applied to deleveraging now that the Castlegar new build facility is complete, and iii) a $50 million profit improvement target over 2015 and 2016 including $10 million in Castlegar income, $35 million in US South restructuring savings and $5 million corporate wide best practice savings.
From the Third Avenue Value Fund 1st quarter 2016 letter.
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